Ron Howard Talks Size and Scope of F1 Racing Drama RUSH; Gives Update on New ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Episodes and Movie

As part of Canon’s Project Imagin8ion campaign, two-time Academy Award winner Ron Howard and daughter Bryce Dallas Howard made a film inspired by eight user-generated photos, called when you find me, that will be screened later this week at the Sundance Film Festival. Alternating between the past and present, the short is an emotional fable of two people coping with loss in very different ways, and what it takes to find peace within yourself and reconciliation with the ones you love.

While we will run what he had to say about the short later, we wanted to share what Howard had to say about the film he’s currently working on, as well as a highly anticipated upcoming project that he has in the works. During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, the filmmaker talked about his approach on Rush, which focuses on the 1970’s rivalry between Austrian Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), and how he’s hoping to bring the speed and danger of the Formula One racing world to the big screen. He also talked about the status of Arrested Developmentand how, even though there’s no specific start date or release date, show creator Mitch Hurwitz is hard at work on some hilarious and outrageous ideas for 10 episodes that will lead up to a feature film. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Question: Back in October, producer Brian Oliver told Collider that Rush is definitely going to have some exciting photography and do things that have never been seen before. What are you hoping to do visually with the film, to capture the speed and feeling of the Formula One races?

RON HOWARD: Well, it’s based on a true story and it’s centered around the 1976 Formula One race season. It operates on so many different levels that I really need to use the medium, in pre-production, production and post-production, to try to immerse the audiences in that world. It’s such a fascinating, sexy, dangerous time. So, while Peter Morgan has written the script, and it’s emotional, funny and character-driven, first and foremost, I think that the sense of the time, the place, the world, the speed and the danger of it, is all going to be made so much more possible, due to the range of options that technology is giving me, as a filmmaker.

It’s also allowing me to make the movie for a much more reasonable price. It’s not an inexpensive film, but for the scope and scale and what we’re going to be able to present to audiences, I think we’re doing it very, very efficiently. It’s basically an independent film. In the places where we’re really trying to capture the feeling of Grand Prix racing, I think we’re going to get something really unique and cool, effective, honest and authentic out there.

What is the status of Arrested Development? Do you have any idea when you might actually film that, and are you excited that it’s finally going to happen?

HOWARD: There’s not a specific start date, but Mitch Hurwitz is definitely working to quickly get it all underway. I don’t want to burden him with any release dates, but I know he’s well underway and it’s something he’s been thinking about a lot, over the previous year. It’s a huge challenge ‘cause we’re talking about 10 episodes, or almost character studies, individually featuring various characters from the Bluth family and showing where they are now and updating audiences, as we build to what we eventually expect and hope will be a movie. So, we need to re-acclimate everybody, and I think he’s got some hilarious idea about where these characters are in the world now, four or five years later, what they’ve been up to, what their frame of mind is now, and how they relate to each other. It’s pretty hilarious, outrageous stuff. Mitch is really enjoying delving back into the Bluth family.

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